Bird Deaths Explained! USDA Killing Them

We got tens of thousands of views last year on a few posts about mass bird deaths (mostly in Arkansas) and what possibly caused the deaths of these birds. There were many possible explanations. I read countless articles on the matter, and many more comments. While many ideas were put forward, none were definitive.

If only someone had asked the USDA….

Apparently, under the radar (so to speak), the information as to what was killing the birds was available for anyone to see. The birds were killed by the USDA. Here’s a screenshot of a USDA page documenting the agency’s work, showing that nearly one million red-winged blackbirds (and many other birds and animals) were “intentionally killed” by the USDA in 30 states in 2009.

Yeah, blackbirds aren’t the only thing they kill.

Other birds they’ve killed include:

Brown-headed cowbirds: 1,046,109
European Starlings: 1,259,714
Canadian geese: 24,519
Grackles: 93,210
Pigeons: 96,297
And tens of thousands, each, of over a dozen other bird species.

The blackbird-killing program actually has the name “Bye Bye Blackbird” — friendly, eh?

Why does the USDA kill these birds and other animals?

Take a guess!

Well, you know what USDA stands for, right? U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is killing off millions, or even hundreds of millions of animals to keep them away from farmers’ crops or the food their animals eat.

“A Nebraska farmer was apparently complaining that the starlings were defecating in his feed meal. The answer to this conundrum apparently isn’t to cover your feed meal but rather call the USDA and ask them to poison thousands of birds.

“The USDA complied, apparently agreeing this was a brilliant idea. So they put out a poison called DRC-1339 and allowed thousands of birds to feed on that poison.”

And here’s more from Natural News on the ridiculousness of some of these killings:

“… since when did sparrows, starlings and blackbirds ever pose a real threat to anyone? They’re not going to fly off with your cow, and to blame these birds for eating the grain being fed to the cows is ridiculous in the first place because cows aren’t supposed to eat grain.

“Cows are supposed to eat grass. If you are running a cow operation where the birds are eating your grain and you think the birds are the problem, the real problem is that you’re feeding cows the wrong food! If you raise your cows on grass, the birds don’t get into the grain and you don’t have to poison the birds.

“You see, when one ecological element gets out of balance (feeding grain to cows, for example), it then causes another problem that must be dealt with in some other destructive way (such as poisoning the birds). This cycle of disharmony continues and escalates until entire ecosystems are out of whack. Then the USDA shows up with a pickup truck full of poison bait and goes to work poisoning animals.

“The solution isn’t to keep poisoning animals and trying to control populations through toxic chemicals but rather to return to holistic web-of-life farming methods that work in harmony with nature rather than treating nature as the enemy.”

For more on how the US government is wasting your money, check out the Natural News piece linked above.

This whole thing really is a pity, eh? Well, not just a pity, it’s utterly disgusting and a little concerning. What else is the USDA up to that we’re not aware of?

About the Author

Zachary Shahan is the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular cleantech-focused website in the world, and Planetsave, a world-leading green and science news site. He has been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and he has been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, and wind energy since 2009.
Aside from his work on CleanTechnica and Planetsave, he's the founder and director of Solar Love, EV Obsession, and Bikocity.
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Fuck Monsanto, fuck the USDA, I hate this messed up system, not caring about the wildlife, they are the cause of many extinctions. Pass this onto everyone you know!

Samuel27_31

starlings are an invasive species and whether they are eating grain or how you want them to be dealt with or lived with, I’ve seen barns that became roosts for more than 10,000 birds in a single night, white washing the cattle and causing severe conditions for the creation of viral and bacterial infections. farming, ranching, growing all takes dealing with organisms that cause damage be it wilt, fungus, birds, rats and other biological factors. while everyone wants everyone to produce these products at the same or lower price and yet they all want producers to somehow live with these damage causing agents.

i suppose the best analogy is if your home becomes infested with mice, rats, roaches etc…would you or would you not start exterminating? everyone rides a high horse when it comes to what others do to stop problems, yet within our own homes we would kill in a hot minute if something was out of order, or eating our food or property! have seen it so many times its not even funny, the nimby (not in my back yard) term is alive and well in america. let the other guy suffer, but if it shows up and bothers me someone quick come help me!

honestly!

Theresa

Unbelievable. The audacity of some US citizens. A farmer who believes he OWNS THE LAND because money was exchanged at some point in the recent past, requests a US dept to cull the wildlife, AND THEY DO. Shocking behaviour.

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